


Night of the Living Dae

by doitsushine92



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Comedy, Fluff, Friendship, High School AU, Humour, Language, M/M, Mild Gore, Past Members, Zombie AU, cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-11 13:00:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11714904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doitsushine92/pseuds/doitsushine92
Summary: Chanyeol is taking a shit when the world ends.





	Night of the Living Dae

**Author's Note:**

> To the prompter, I hope I did your idea justice! To my beta Chrissy, thank you so much for all your help and your encouragement ^^  
> Warnings: zombie!au so the expected gore and blood, but I promise it isn't bad.

“I literally want to die,” Kyungsoo moans.

Baekhyun takes a short break from his Very Intense Final Fantasy match against Jongdae to look up from his spot on the floor towards the general direction of where Kyungsoo is. His mouth is open - to offer some form of comfort - but his attention is short lived when Jongdae nearly kills his character and he gets back to the game with a curse. Meanwhile, Chanyeol actually takes the time to pat what he can reach of Kyungsoo from his spot on the bed, with the hand that isn’t currently occupied with stuffing potato chips down his throat.

Kyungsoo moans one more time, this time louder and more pained than before, and Chanyeol realizes it’s because he is patting the very much bruised thigh area where Kyungsoo was kicked. “I can’t believe I let an eleven year old kick me in front of Seungkwan. I’m such a loser.”

“No arguments there,” Jongdae laughs. Kyungsoo throws a water bottle he finds next to his body in Jongdae’s direction without lifting his head off the pillow, and Chanyeol doesn’t have to see his face to know Kyungsoo smiles when he hears the hurt ‘ouch’.

“It’s not the end of the world though,” Chanyeol tries to ease him. Kyungsoo raises his head to look at him and gives him the sort of glare that sends shivers down Chanyeol’s spine. Chanyeol’s mom takes the chance to poke her head inside the room and offer them cookies, to which Baekhyun and Jongdae cheer loudly and race each other to the kitchen where the promise of the baked goods lie. Chanyeol drags Kyungsoo by the forearm despite all the groaning and complaining he receives, and when they finally arrive they find that the other two have nearly demolished the tray. Chanyeol opens his mouth to whine at his mom but she beats him to it, reaching into the oven and brandishing a brand new platter. Chanyeol pokes his tongue out at his friends after beaming brightly at his mom.

“So,” Mrs. Park smiles at Kyungsoo, and Chanyeol actually feels the temperature in the room drop. “How did it go with Seungkwan?”

Baekhyun and Jongdae guffaw loudly from the couch, and even though Baekhyun chokes on his cookie, he still looks happier than ever as he reminisces the events that unfolded earlier that day. Kyungsoo’s entire face turns a shade of bright red, and he subconsciously begins to rub his thigh.

“I’m guessing it didn’t go so well, huh?” Chanyeol’s mom winces.

Jongdae cackles. “He got kicked by her little brother!”

Chanyeol is about a hundred and nine percent sure his mom is doing her best not to laugh at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo is most likely aware of that fact too, because he starts to sulk, and a sulky Kyungsoo is an aggressive one so Chanyeol decides to change topics quickly, before his best friend starts to feel crappier than he already does.

“In other news,” he says loudly, “Baek is joining the school choir! He auditioned before summer started and Professor Kim said he was in. Isn’t that great mom?”

His mom’s attention is effectively averted to where Baekhyun is hiding his face behind a cushion, and she cheers for him. She begins cooing about how she loved it when he sang back when they were little, and how she needs to see him perform, and that if she isn’t invited to his first concert she’ll be very upset. Baekhyun does his best to soothe her, because of course she’s invited - how could she not be?

Meanwhile Jongdae is doing a poor job at pretending he isn’t amused by the whole situation. Kyungsoo gives Chanyeol a small, thankful smile that isn’t really necessary, but Chanyeol returns it anyway.

-

“I feel bad for him,” Baekhyun tells Chanyeol later that night when they’re alone. Jongdae and Kyungsoo already left for home, Jongdae coaxing a smile out of their younger friend before swinging an arm over his shoulder and veering him away from Chanyeol’s building. Baekhyun couldn’t go home since his parents were away, and Chanyeol was more than happy to let him sleep over, with the excuse that they live in the same building anyway and it would be easier in case Baekhyun needed anything from his apartment.

Chanyeol peeks over the edge of his bed to where Baekhyun is lying on a thin mattress. He has his default blanket for when he stays with him wrapped around his body comfortably. He looks kind of fluffy and Chanyeol has the weird urge to join him before he pushes the thought away.

“What do you mean?” Chanyeol asks.

Baekhyun huffs and twists around until he can look at Chanyeol in the eye. “He’s been crushing on Seungkwan since the third grade. He finally relocates his balls and asks her out only to be humiliated by a kid. That’s rough.”

“I guess it is,” Chanyeol muses. His hair is getting a little too long for his liking so his bangs fall on his eyes and he has to whip his head side to side to regain vision. Once his eyesight is free he sees Baekhyun is looking at him with a pensive expression on his face. “Wouldn’t you feel like crap if your big confession got ruined like that?”

“I would be,” Chanyeol admits. “But Kyungsoo is a tough cookie. He’ll be fine.”

“You think so?”

“Of course I think so. Now shush, it’s late. Goodnight Baekhyunnie.”

“Goodnight, Yeol.”

-

This time it's Jongdae’s turn to play host. The four of them gather in his basement, turning the lights off and covering the only window with a black plastic bag so they can properly see the movie that’s projected on the wall. Jongdae’s dad is a Classic movie enthusiast and has ton of dusty reels in his studio, which he allows his son to borrow from time to time.

They settle on Night of the Living Dead, much to Kyungsoo’s delight; he loves horror movies, and flesh-eating monsters happen to be his favourite.

“I’m certain Kyungsoo would die in a zombie apocalypse though,” Baekhyun shares as he shoves popcorn down his throat. Kyungsoo shoots him a glare but doesn’t comment, probably because he’s covered up to his nose with a blanket; Jongdae’s basement is really cold and Kyungsoo is anaemic. “I imagine that it would involve a lot of running, and Soo doesn’t do exercise.”

“You’re right - I can’t even remember the last time I saw him run,” Chanyeol laughs.

Jongdae waves his arm around wildly and says, “I do! Fifth grade, he was chasing us with that makeshift sword for our play because we said he made a lousy pirate.”

Baekhyun and Chanyeol both make ‘aah’ sounds in remembrance. In their defence, Kyungsoo had a too impeccable pronunciation to pass for a pirate. “He’d definitely get caught by zombies and eaten.” Chanyeol affirms.

“I don’t need to be faster than the zombies,” Kyungsoo mumbles. “I just need to be faster than you.”

“Did he just…” Jongdae mumbles in awe.

“He just did,” Baekhyun mumbles back.

“What a savage...” Chanyeol whispers loudly and beams brightly when Kyungsoo glares at them half heartedly.

“Oh look at that,” Baekhyun coos, “He looks like a disgruntled puppy.”

“How cute,” Jongdae laughs.

Needless to say, Kyungsoo hits them all in the head and tells them to shut up.

Later that night, when they’re bundled up in their blankets on the basement floor and Mrs. Kim has long told them to go to bed, Jongdae whispers that he actually thinks Kyungsoo would be one of the remaining humans on Earth after a zombie apocalypse since “he’s such a badass and shit.”

“We’d die first,” Baekhyun says, pointing with his thumb at Chanyeol and then back at himself. Chanyeol hums in agreement.

“Nah,” Kyungsoo yawns, “Don’t worry. I’ll keep you guys alive, for entertainment purposes.”

“Can you imagine me in an apocalypse though?” Jongdae asks dreamily. “Night of the living Dae,” he laughs. Kyungsoo groans in annoyance even as Chanyeol and Baekhyun have to muffle their laughter in their pillows. Jongdae pokes Kyungsoo in the side until he finally cracks a smile and Jongdae beams.

-

What’s left of their summer goes by like that, with sleepovers almost every day. It’s their senior year after all, and who knows if they’ll all manage to get into the same university. Their parents don’t mind having the others over constantly, since it’s been like that from the moment they met in kindergarten.

Sometimes they’ll go down to the old drive-in cinema close to their school.t only plays vintage movies and it's mostly frequented by old people and couples looking for a place to get down and dirty, but they love going there when it’s a double function because they get to go in Jongdeok’s old pickup truck and bring blankets with them, the four of them all snuggled as close together as possible.

Other times, on the weekends, they’ll drive down to the beach. Chanyeol would drive, with Baekhyun playing DJ in the passenger’s seat and Kyungsoo snoring in the back, while Jongdae pokes his head out the window when they get close to the water so he could breathe in the sea breeze. They always stay the weekend at an Inn owned by Kyungsoo’s uncle, not that they sleep there anyway; they usually fall asleep on the sand, with the stars looking down at them.

If not, they would just go around town. Their bikes are old but reliable, and Chanyeol loves it when they circle their hometown all day, stopping by cafes and bakeries and saying hi to the people they know; the perks of living in a small town close to a big city is that you know everyone.

Too soon, the school year starts again. They spend their last night of summer in a grass field behind Kyungsoo’s house, and Baekhyun whispers into the night how afraid he actually is to be going to Uni so soon, but Kyungsoo reassures him that he’ll be there to save his ass, like he’s always been doing, so there’s nothing to worry about.

-

Chanyeol is taking a shit when the world ends. In his defence, he had some really questionable tacos the night before with Baekhyun at the shady restaurant a few blocks from their building. The owner had been offering a discount for students about to start school, and Baekhyun was all too excited at the prospect of discounted food. He can only hope that his friend is suffering the same fate as him in another bathroom. He vaguely registers the sound of the bell signalling the end of second period, and has only enough time to think about how he missed most of his Math class, when the door to the bathroom bursts open and he hears Kyungsoo calling his name.

“Kind of busy right now, Soo,” Chanyeol says, shifting uncomfortably on the toilet seat.

“Park, believe me when I say this is important and that you need to get out here right now.”

If it were Baekhyun and Jongdae, Chanyeol would have gone about his business without giving it a second thought, but Kyungsoo never sounds frantic when talking to him so he figures it really is important; as a matter of fact, Kyungsoo never sounds anything other than exasperated or indifferent when talking to any of them, unless he’s in a particularly good mood. He wasn’t, at least not that morning.

Chanyeol pulls his pants up while huffing in indignation and walks out of the stall with his zipper still down because fuck it; he and Kyungsoo took naked mud baths together until they were ten, there is no need to be shy. Except when he finally lays his eyes on Kyungsoo, he sees his urgency is justified: the right sleeve of his uniform shirt is torn; his face is covered in blood and one of his shoes is missing.

“Dude, what happened to you?” Chanyeol whistles. “You look like you went through a mob of fangirls.”

“You wouldn’t believe me,” Kyungsoo whispers. “Come on, we gotta find Dumb and Dumber.”

“But I thought I was Dumber?” Chanyeol pouts. Kyungsoo hits him upside the head, tells him he’s actually Dumbest and to stop blabbering nonsense.

The hallways are deserted of people, with blood splattered on the walls and what looks as the aftermath of a disaster. Kyungsoo pays no attention to any of this, running down the halls in the direction of the Chemistry lab where they know Baekhyun and Jongdae are supposed to be (though, given the state of their school, Chanyeol supposes it wouldn’t be too surprising if they weren’t). Chanyeol splutters incoherently and follows after him, stumbling over discarded backpacks and slipping on papers.

“Kyungsoo, wait, hold up,” Chanyeol calls out, only to be hushed by his friend. Kyungsoo’s eyes are wider than usual with fear, and he reaches out to hold onto Chanyeol’s hand and pull him closer.

“Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo whispers, eyeing the hallway they were in frantically, “We are in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, please shut the fuck up.”

Chanyeol stares at him for three seconds before he bursts out laughing. The laughter, which Kyungsoo anxiously asks him to stop, attracts what looks like a monster out of one of Chanyeol’s videogames; it obviously used to be a student in their school judging from the uniform, but the face is a sickly green, it’s missing an arm and it has what looks like a piece of thorn flesh hanging from the corner of its mouth; Chanyeol isn’t even sure if it used to be a boy or girl, because the hair has been ripped off and only a few short strands remain attached to the skull.

Kyungsoo whimpers and tugs Chanyeol along, muttering something that sounds like “I should have left you in the bathroom to die I hate you.”

-

“Care to explain to me what the fuck is going on?” Chanyeol pants.

They are currently hiding out in a janitor’s closet, having been chased all the way in here by a zombified version of their used-to-be pretty senior Im Yoona. Kyungsoo is sitting underneath a dusty table with his knees tucked to his chest. Chanyeol, considering the size of the tiny room and the length of his lanky limbs, has no option but to stay standing, and truth be told he’s having a hard time keeping his legs from shaking. After a few moments of trembling knees, he opts to lean his back on the wall for support, lungs sucking in dusty air with big gulps.

“Well,” Kyungsoo drawls out, “It seems to me like school is taking a toll on the students fucking earlier than usual, don’t you think? The fuck you think is happening?”

Chanyeol ignores the sarcasm and focuses on steadying his breathing. “Please tell me what happened before you found me.”

Kyungsoo sighs. “I was at Math, like you were supposed to be, and one moment we’re tackling long division and the next we’re tackling Mr. Song. I mean, out of nowhere he just starts coughing, and doubling over and throwing up blood, and we thought it was some kind of seizure or something, so Soljin goes up to check up on on him. The next thing I know, he’s trying to eat her leg” He pauses to take a deep breath. “And then people all around me started doing the same shit and a little thing called common sense told me to get the fuck away before it happened to me. So I left the classroom and I ran into a horde of dead teachers who decided I looked like a delicious breakfast and started chasing me. And then I found you.”

Kyungsoo looks like he’s about to be sick (which, according to his story, isn’t a good sign), so Chanyeol does the only thing he can think about and changes the subject. “And what about Baekhyun and Jongdae?”

“I don’t know where they are,” Kyungsoo shrugs helplessly. Chanyeol pulls out his phone with the intention of calling Baekhyun, because Jongdae can never be trusted to pick up, but frowns when he sees he has no signal.

“Hey, can you check your phone?” Chanyeol tells Kyungsoo, but when the shorter boy doesn’t move, Chanyeol searches his uniform until he finds it. “You don’t have any signal either. Damn it.”

“You know what we have to do right?” Kyungsoo whispers, looking up at him. “We have to get out of this closet and find our way out of the school.”

“What about Jongdae and Baekhyun?” Chanyeol asks confused.

“Those assholes,” Kyungsoo growls, standing up on shaky legs. He presses his ear to the door and waits for a few seconds.”I don’t hear anything - come on, there’s no way we can reach the labs with a horde of zombies on our asses. Let’s just hope those two idiots haven’t become zombie snacks.”

-

 

Chanyeol has never been a big fan of school, but he can honestly say that he’d prefer to go back to boring lessons and long hours of studying rather than having to walk around bloodied halls too silent for his liking. At one point, they turn a corner and nearly barrel into the librarian; Chanyeol never liked the old lady, so he feels no remorse when he picks up a locker door that has been ripped off its hinges and uses it as weapon. Her head goes rolling off and lands with a disgusting splash ten feet down the hall; Chanyeol isn’t captain of the baseball team for nothing.

Kyungsoo, for all his tough façade, nearly passes out when he sees the Choir professor, Kim Ryeowook, dragging his left feet down the hall and moaning. Chanyeol does his best to distract him, being older and all, but he is having a pretty hard time doing so.

They end up finding their friends rather unexpectedly.

Basically, Kyungsoo opens the emergency staircase door with a violent yank and a huff because Chanyeol was saying dumb things and Baekhyun’s heavy body slams into him. They both go down in a mess of limbs and lots of groaning and complaining, while Chanyeol and Jongdae stare at each other in horror (and just a tiny bit of mirth).

After a messy rush of greetings and some head cuffing courtesy of Kyungsoo, they all agree to find an empty classroom to hide in. Now that he found his friends, Chanyeol is starting to feel a little better about the situation. Don’t get him wrong, it still sucks to have the world ending and all, but at least he had Baekhyun with him now. They had come up with a plan when they were eleven on how to survive a zombie apocalypse. Chanyeol doesn’t quite remember where Jongdae and Kyungsoo were then, or what exactly their plan was about, but he does remember it was a great plan, even for a couple of kids, so it’s reassuring to have him by his side.

Speaking of Baekhyun, the boy is shivering next to him, and Chanyeol notices for the first time he’s missing his school jacket and vest, leaving him only in a thin white dress shirt and tie; a pretty bad choice of clothes given the time of the year and how chilly it could get, if you ask Chanyeol. After making sure both Jongdae and Kyungsoo are off doing their own thing because he knows they’ll never let him live it down, he shrugs off his own jacket and hands it over to Baekhyun.

The older boy looks mildly surprised at the gesture and tries to reject it, mumbling something about not wanting Chanyeol to get cold, but he insists, saying, “You always say I’m a human heater, so relax. When we get to my locker hall I can grab my spare sweater for you and I’ll take back my jacket.”

Baekhyun blushes, which is kind of unusual for him since Baekhyun is the human embodiment of confidence and self-esteem, and gratefully slides on the jacket. And if Chanyeol isn’t mistaken, he hears him mutter what sounds like, “It’s warm.”

“If you two lovebirds are quite done with your awkward mating rituals,” Jongdae pipes up from behind them, dodging a hit from Baekhyun, “We should probably get out of here.”

They wander around for a while. Unsurprisingly, Jongdae and Baekhyun are incapable of keeping their comments to themselves, and Kyungsoo has to shush them more than once when they forget to be quiet and nearly attract the zombies.

They figure out that the dead don’t really have a radar of any sort to locate the living; most of the time all they have to do is be really quiet and they can easily slip away from them. They notice that zombies are truly alerted of their presence only by sound and sight, and they even manage to creep down a hall where the janitor is trying to enter a broom closet. Those were the longest, most nerve-wracking three minute of Chanyeol’s life, but it was also over as soon as it started, and soon enough they were in the emergency staircase again.

They are facing the inside of campus now. There doesn't seem to be any zombies around, and the grounds are empty. The trees are swaying side to side from the wind and Chanyeol notices a few lunch tables turned over, meals spilled on the ground.

“Have you noticed there aren’t any dead bodies?” Baekhyun whispers. He’s shivering still, Chanyeol’s school jacket clearly not doing much for him. Chanyeol fights back the urge to wrap him up in a hug; thankfully (or not, Chanyeol isn’t too sure), Jongdae does it for him.

“We’re thinking the same,” Kyungsoo nods. “They were probably… turned too, or whatever.”

Jongdae shudders too, but with apprehension rather than cold. “I still can’t believe this is happening. The other day we were joking about a zombie apocalypse and now…”

They’re silent. When Baekhyun gives a particularly violent tremor Kyungsoo decides they already spent enough time outside and they should head back inside. After checking that the coast is clear, he gives the sign and they walk into the fifth floor.

-

“This is the most ridiculous situation in the world,” Jongdae complains.

Chanyeol can’t blame him. Of all the scenarios he could have imagined, this is definitely the most far-fetched one; the stupidest, too. The two of them watch from the bathroom door as Kyungsoo tries one more time to pull Baekhyun’s foot out of the toilet seat.

It is actually kind of funny, and Chanyeol is already laughing now without having to wait a few years time, like all their other embarrassing memories. You see, Baekhyun had the brilliant idea of hiding in one of the bathroom stalls while they waited for Zombie Kim Yeri and her Zombie Friends, Bae Joohyun and Kang Seulgi to pass by; what he wasn’t counting on was slipping while getting down from his hiding spot and then getting stuck. The Zombie Girls are long gone, and yet they’re still trying to get him out. Kyungsoo groans exasperated when he loses balance and lands on his behind.

“Why don’t you just,” Jongdae says, “take your shoe off?”

Baekhyun isn’t too keen on the idea, but Kyungsoo’s glare is enough incentive for him to untie his sneaker and slide his foot out. He’s finally free, and with a grimace he reaches down and pulls his shoe out sideways. It’s soggy, and Chanyeol genuinely feels bad for him when Baekhyun pouts. Baekhyun is too cute to be pouting.

“Can we go to the gym?” Baekhyun asks, “I have my sneakers in my locker.”

“Yeah, sure, Kyungsoo shrugs.

“So we have to stop by Chanyeol’s locker and then the changing rooms?” Jongdae asks, “Damn, Baekkie is going shopping today.”

“Shut up asshole.”

-

Chanyeol’s locker is closer, so that’s their first stop. They don’t have much trouble getting there, other than a horde of Zombie Freshmen crowded around the Computer Lab. Chanyeol finds it funny that even in death, freshmen move in packs and manage to make themselves as annoying as they were when they were alive.

“It should be in here somewhere,” Chanyeol mumbles. His locker is an absolute mess, but he eventually pulls out his hoodie and hands it over to Baekhyun, who gives him his jacket back in return. The sweater is big enough on Chanyeol, so it nearly drowns Baekhyun, but at least he doesn’t have to worry about him getting cold any more. Jongdae rolls his eyes at them for whatever reason and Kyungsoo merely ignores them all, keeping a vigilant eye out on the halls.

Next, they head for the changing rooms. It’s a little trickier this time, because they have to cross the cafeteria to get there, and there are some slow-moving zombies loitering about, mostly kitchen ladies and a few teachers. Chanyeol suggests crawling through, but Kyungsoo refuses to touch the floor with his bare hands, claims he has no desire to catch any kind of disease that has most likely infected the surface.

“The teachers are all crowded around that one table,” Baekhyun points out. The professors are gathered near the kitchen, far from the door that leads to the hall with the changing rooms. If they can get there, they’ll be out of harm’s way.

“I’ll go first,” Jongdae says, already moving forward without waiting for confirmation from his friends.

The three stay by the door, watching with apprehension as Jongdae goes all 007 on them and sneaks through the cafeteria, successfully getting to the other side without a scratch. He grins victoriously and waves wildly. Baekhyun goes next, and it takes him a bit longer but soon enough he’s next to Jongdae too.

“Stay here Park,” Kyungsoo orders him as he follows after Baekhyun.

When he’s left alone, Chanyeol begins to get a little bit nervous. But he finds that he’s not nervous for himself, but for his friends; what if something happens when he’s waiting and he can’t help them? What if the zombies somehow notice Kyungsoo and go after him? What if they see Baekhyun and Jongdae? Countless scenarios run through his head as he waits for Kyungsoo to be safe and sound on the other end of the cafeteria, but his best friend is soon waving at him that it’s his turn.

His heart hammers loudly in his chest as he steps forward. He thanks the heavens he’s wearing semi-new shoes and don’t squeak on the floor or else he’d be in serious trouble. He notices Baekhyun and Jongdae quietly encouraging him from the door, Kyungsoo gripping their arms with concern. It’s cute, and it gives Chanyeol the final boost of energy he needs to move on, barely daring to raise his feet off the ground in fear of making noise. The zombies don’t pay him any attention, thank goodness, and before he knows it he’s on the other end.

Jongdae’s first mistake is to clap him on the back. The sound comes out louder than it should in the eerie silence of the hall and Chanyeol is terrified to see the zombies still, slowly turning around before their eyes land on the four and start to move towards them.

“Crap.”

Needless to say, they all start running like hell. Chanyeol is mildly aware that Jongdae is nowhere to be seen, but he hasn’t heard any screaming or pleas for help so at least he knows he hasn’t become zombie snack.

Unless he got eaten before he could react.

Chanyeol shakes the thought away. Jongdae isn’t dead, he can feel it. Chancing a glance back, the tall boy confirms his suspicions when he sees Jongdae running fast behind him, half a step behind Baekhyun. Kyungsoo, however, isn’t there. If it weren’t for the horde of zombies still running like crazy after them, Chanyeol would have feared the worst, just like he did with Jongdae; but there isn’t any sign of his best friend being dead, so he simply has to hope for the best while running.

The stairs leading to the third floor are on his left and Chanyeol nearly slips on his face when he dashes for them, feet pounding on the steps. Behind him he can hear Baekhyun and Jongdae panting raggedly but hot on his trail, and nothing else. Chanyeol looks back to see they’re finally alone. No zombies.

But still no Kyungsoo.

-

He can’t be dead.

“He can’t be dead,” Jongdae voices his thoughts. They’re hiding in the teacher’s lounge on the fifth floor; they already gone to the locker room, Baekhyun now wearing dry, comfy sneakers. Chanyeol is pacing up and down the room in a frantic state and Baekhyun is making a weak attempt at calming him down. “I mean, he’s Soo. He can’t… it’s not possible.”

Jongdae sounds borderline hysteric, and Chanyeol wonders if Baekhyun will be able to calm them both down if they were to have a meltdown at the same time; probably not. After the zombies had lost interest in them, the three friends had gone looking for Kyungsoo but came back empty handed. Now they’re trying to come up with a plan that involves saving Kyungsoo without getting themselves killed.

“Let’s check the rest of the school,” Baekhyun suggests. “We’re on the top floor now. Let’s check the halls and then make our way down. I’m sure we’ll find him.”

Chanyeol wishes he could believe him.

-

Jongdae offers to go first. After much consideration, they figure it will be easier if only one of them goes out; that way they won’t make any noise that will attract zombies to them. Chanyeol and Baekhyun stay behind in the teacher’s lounge, crouched between the vending machine and a couch, the axe for emergencies grasped tightly in Baekhyun’s hands.

“He’ll be fine,” Baekhyun reassures him after minutes of silence. Chanyeol looks at him confused and Baekhyun sighs. “Both of them will. You’re shaking.”

Chanyeol hadn’t noticed that, but glancing down to his hands he can see Baekhyun is right. Baekhyun sighs again and then reaches over and grabs hold of one of Chanyeol’s hands with his smaller one and tangles their fingers together. Chanyeol stares at their linked hands with a dumbfounded face and Baekhyun smiles timidly.

“We might die today,” he says quietly, “Or tomorrow or next week. I don’t want to die without trying.”

Baekhyun kisses him. Chanyeol doesn’t process anything else other than the feel of Baekhyun’s lips pressed against his softly, their fingers locked and how nice Baekhyun smells, like cinnamon. When they pull apart Baekhyun takes one look at Chanyeol’s face and grins, that pretty smile that makes his eyes crinkle and Chanyeol’s heart races with affection.

The door slams open then and Jongdae walks in, Kyungsoo in tow. Chanyeol forgets about Baekhyun long enough to launch himself to Kyungsoo, whisper-shouting “SOO!” on his way. He nearly knocks him off of his feet and they both stumble back but at least they don’t fall. Kyungsoo lets him cling to him for a while, and even hugs him back too.

“Soo,” Chanyeol whispers. “Baekhyun kissed me.”

Kyungsoo yanks Chanyeol back with wide eyes and stares at him. Then he smiles and says to Jongdae, “You owe me ten bucks.”

Jongdae is wide eyed too and he pouts at Baekhyun. “You kissed him?!” and with an accusing glare at Chanyeol he whines, “God dammit Chanyeol where are your balls?”  
Chanyeol is very confused as Kyungsoo collects a bill from a reluctant Jongdae, teasing smirk on his lips while Jongdae looks like he wants nothing more than to smack him.

“You were betting on us?” Baekhyun asks.

“I bet Jongdae you would kiss Chanyeol first,” Kyungsoo explains.

“I actually had my faith on Chanyeol,” Jongdae whines again. “I figured with how smitten you are you’d never do it.”

“I’m glad you lost,” Baekhyun pokes his tongue out at him. Then he tugs Kyungsoo into a hug and tells him he’s not allowed to separate from him ever again.

“Where were you, anyway?” Chanyeol asks.

“I told you guys I’d keep you alive for entertainment purposes,” Kyungsoo says. “I drew the zombies away from you.”

“You could have gotten yourself killed!” Baekhyun exclaims. Jongdae sighs, “That’s what I told him.”

“But I’m fine,” Kyungsoo reassures them. “Now let’s get out of here.”

-

They hide in the chemistry lab on the third floor, where Kyungsoo assures them he can make a corrosive acid that will melt any zombie’s face off. After barricading both doors, Jongdae grabs a spare marker from the teacher’s desk and stands in front of the whiteboard with the air of a professor about to begin a very important lesson.

“Here’s the plan,” Jongdae said, “We’ve already established that zombies are too dumb to climb stairs, right?”

The others nod and mutter their agreement, flashbacks of the time a zombie chased them all the way out of the the fifth floor but tripped and fell on its ass when he tried to go down the stairs after them.

“Well, we figured we could try to get to the rooftop and see if we can see anyone that can help us get out of here.”

“That,” Baekhyun says slowly, “Is a shitty plan.”

“Excuse me, bitch, but do you have a better plan?” Kyungsoo snaps, “No? I didn’t think so.”

Baekhyun mutters “Grouchy,” and Chanyeol has to stifle his laughter if only not to invoke Kyungsoo’s wrath. Best friends or not, Kyungsoo is never slow to beat him back to his place in the food chain, as he likes to call it.

“Alright, say we make it to the rooftop without getting eaten,” Baekhyun says, “What if no one is out there? What if there isn’t a single living soul out in the streets? What then?”

Suddenly, the reality of their situation sinks in and the four are left staring at each other in despair; they are the only ones left alive in their school; who’s to say it isn't the case in the entire town? It’s not like there were many people in the first place.

“By the way, Chanyeol,” Jongdae speaks, “Park Sooyoung is a zombie now.”

“There goes your chance at getting laid once in your life,” Kyungsoo laughs.

“That’s not true, Soo, he still has Baekhyun,” Jongdae smiles, “Who knows, maybe they’ll have short, big-eared kids together.”

“Men can’t have children together,” Baekhyun protests, arms folded across his chest and looking at Jongdae with disapproval.

“It’s called survival instincts Baek,” Jongdae argues at the same time Kyungsoo mutters “Is that really what you’re protesting at?”

-

Because Kyungsoo is the only one who actually paid attention in class, he is the one in charge of making the acid, Jongdae hovering behind his shoulder with wide eyes and Baekhyun reading out loud from an old, torn chemistry book they found in the shelf. Chanyeol distracts himself by looking out the window, checking to see if there is anyone out in the streets. The world is eerily quiet, with not a single soul in sight. The sky is a dark grey, and it looks like it is about to rain.

“Alright,” Kyungsoo sighs, wiping sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. “It’s done.”

He carefully lifts the flask and cradles it in his gloved hands, which has Jongdae and Baekhyun both offering him lots of room for him to walk around the table. Chanyeol moves to the door and peeks out the tiny window; he checks the halls for signs of any zombies in the vicinity before stepping out. Kyungsoo goes after him, the acid in his hands sloshing around dangerously.

Baekhyun and Jongdae follow next, practically glued to each other. Slowly, the four of them creep down the halls in formation, Chanyeol pausing before every corner to poke his head around. They make it all the way to the last floor without problem, and of course as soon as Chanyeol dares to breathe in relief, the door to their left slams open and a group of about ten zombies bursts out, moaning and screaming and waving their hands in their direction. Baekhyun screams out, terrified, when one of the zombies grabs hold of his ankle; Jongdae, yelling even louder, kicks the zombie in the head until it lets go and they both dash for the stairs leading towards the roof, seemingly competing for who could be loudest while running for their lives.

Meanwhile, Kyungsoo stands petrified, holding the vial in his hands and wide eyes opened to the max. Chanyeol takes it upon him to grab the flask and, in a very swift movement, pours its contents all over the zombies. Immediately the undead start writhing and twisting around as their faces melt and drip to the floor in disgusting drops of waxy skin. Without giving him a chance to react, Chanyeol grabs Kyungsoo by the arm and drags him in the direction of where the other two had gone, and as soon as his feet start pounding up the stairs he feels safer than before.

Up in the rooftop, Baekhyun and Jongdae are caught up in what looks like a sweet moment between friends, with Baekhyun sobbing into Jongdae’s shoulder and thanking him over and over; Jongdae isn’t too far behind, crying and sniffing out broken sentences of how he doesn’t have anything to thank him for, he did what any best friend would have done and that he knows Baekhyun would do the same for him.

Too bad Chanyeol trips over his own feet and lands on his face with a sharp cry of ‘ouch!’ and effectively ruins the mood. Kyungsoo, obviously thankful of Chanyeol for handling the situation so well, says, “Serves you right for using all our acid.”

Baekhyun and Jongdae spring apart, both hastily wiping their noses and rubbing their eyes. Baekhyun takes one look at poor Chanyeol nursing his more-than-likely broken nose and takes pity on him, kneeling down in front of him and helps him wipe away the blood. Chanyeol is too caught up thinking about how pretty Baekhyun looks even after he’s cried his eyes out to notice Jongdae is speaking to him.

“Hey, Panini head, are you listening to me?!” Jongdae screams.

Chanyeol looks at him, unimpressed. “Now is not the time to quote Gordon Ramsay you dipshit.”

“Well, if you would stop ogling at my best friend you would have heard me the first time and I wouldn’t have been obligated to yell memes at you.”

“I wasn’t-”

“Don’t even try to deny it Park and listen to what he has to say,” Kyungsoo groans. Chanyeol blushes a deep red but shuts up anyway.

“There’s a military tank down there,” Jongdae says excitedly, pointing down the side of the building. When Chanyeol leans over the railing he sees there really is a tank and, even better, there are soldiers outside, holding guns bigger than them.

“Alright boys, this is what you’ve been training for,” Kyungsoo says. “This is your chance to prove just how loud you can be and get their fucking attention.”

The three of them exchange looks before they start to whoop and holler, waving their arms around like madmen and generally causing a ruckus. Even Kyungsoo joins in after a few seconds, screaming along with them.

The soldiers on the ground look around confusedly until one of them spots them and points in their direction for his comrades to see. A few grab their guns and go inside the school while another, the shorter one, grabs a megaphone and speaks into it.

“Stay put, we are coming to get you.”

The relief that floods through Chanyeol’s body is mirrored in his friends’ faces. Somehow, the four of them end up in a heap on the ground, hugging and crying. Well, Kyungsoo doesn’t exactly cry, but he does sniff once or twice and allows Baekhyun to smother his face into his chest.

When the soldiers appear in the rooftop, they bring two freshmen with them, who Chanyeol recognizes as Kim Jongin and Oh Sehun. They’re both sweaty and look scared out of their minds, but otherwise unharmed. One of the soldiers approaches them and kneels down to be eye-level with them, and then lowers his visors and face mask to reveal a young man, probably in his twenties.

“Hello boys,” he speaks in heavily accented Korean, “My name’s Yixing and you are?”

Baekhyun, as the oldest, speaks up first. “I’m Byun Baekhyun,” he says shakily, and Chanyeol recognizes the star struck look on his face. “And these are Kim Jongdae, Park Chanyeol and Do Kyungsoo.”

“Nice to meet you,” Yixing smiles and yeah, Chanyeol is smitten too, “why don’t you follow me? We’ll take you somewhere safe.”

At the mention of safety they untangle from each other (Chanyeol’s face burns red when he realizes they are still holding onto each other like children) and follow the soldiers down the stairs. One of them looks them up and down and asks, “Which one of you melted the zombies?”

Kyungsoo makes a sound akin to a terrified mouse and raises his hand timidly. The soldier stares at him for a few seconds and then nods. “Cool.”

-

The military base outside of Seoul that the soldiers take them to is jam-packed with survivors. Yixing leads the six of them down long corridors illuminated with dirty yellow lights, explaining to them what they’re allowed to know.

“SM Laboratories was working on a cure for death,” Yixing says, pauses and corrects himself, “Well, not exactly a cure. The idea was to find a way to reanimate dead brain cells long enough to replace the organs with new ones and then, through a series of mechanisms I’m not familiar with, bring the recently dead back to life.

“Obviously, it backfired. There was a leak in the main lab and the dead bodies they were experimenting on woke up and became… zombies.”

“That is the dumbest idea anyone’s ever had,” Kyungsoo groans. “Death happens for a reason. You can’t just live forever, that would cause overpopulation and hunger and -”

“It’d be bad, we get it,” Jongdae cuts him off. Kyungsoo cuffs him on the head while Yixing giggles.

“We’re here,” the other soldier, Yifan, announces. “There’s a book in the entrance, please sign your names there. You can also check to see if any of your relatives are here.”

“And if they’re not?” Jongin asks shyly. He hadn’t said much on their trip there, other than the whispered conversations between him and Sehun.

“Then they are either in the base in Busan… or they’re dead.” Yifan murmurs the last part, not looking at any of them.

The statement hangs heavily in the air. Yixing mutters something about ruining the mood but doesn’t let them think about it too much and pushes the door open. They are lead into a big room that Chanyeol supposes is the hospital wing, filled to the brim with survivors, nurses and soldiers rushing around to help as many people as they could. Yixing hands them a pen and directs them to a simple wooden table where the book Yifan told them about is. They take turns signing, Chanyeol going last, and then they’re allowed to browse from the beginning in search for familiar names.

The second Chanyeol reads the name ‘Park Yura’ he whips his head back and forth, trying to find his sister, but the sheer amount of people inside the room makes it too difficult. Yifan places a hand on his shoulder and asks, “Who are you looking for? Maybe they’ve already moved on to another room.”

Chanyeol points shakily to his sister’s name and Yifan nods once, and then walks away to where a doctor is tending to a little girl’s broken leg. Yifan says something, the doctor nods and checks his chart before saying something back. Yifan bows to him in thanks and lets him get back to the kid.

“She’s been cleared and sent to rest,” he informs him. “The doctor says she was with an older couple, parents perhaps?”

Chanyeol nearly collapses on his face at those words. Kyungsoo holds him up by the arm and pats him reassuringly. “You can see them later tonight or maybe tomorrow,” Yifan tells him. “It depends on how long it takes to get you checked out.”

Chanyeol can’t thank him enough. Yifan assures him it’s fine and asks Kyungsoo if he saw any familiar names. “My mom and brother,” he answers softly. “Their names are on here, but not my dad’s.”

Yifan sighs. “Yeah,” he mutters, “I’ve heard that a lot now. Don’t worry though,” he adds as an afterthought. “He might be in the other base, or maybe he was a little more battered than the others and sent to ICU instead.”

Kyungsoo is pale as a sheet but nods anyway. The same doctor that Yifan had talked to before approaches them and introduces himself as Kim Minseok, a military doctor and head of staff. “I have here a list of all patients discharged,” he tells them. “So you just give me a name and I’ll tell you if your loved one is in another room.”

Kyungsoo gives him the names of his mother and brother and the doctor nods. “Yes, she was one of the first to arrive. Petite, kind woman?” when he gets the confirmation not only from Kyungsoo but Chanyeol too, he smiles. “She’s been sent to sleep too. Your brother – I assume he was your brother, you two are very alike – had a badly bruised arm and took a little longer, but he was taken care of too. They’re together.”

Chanyeol swings an arm around Kyungsoo and pulls him close with a bright grin.

“What about you, boys?” Minseok asks the others kindly. Jongin gives him two names, maybe his sisters, and gets the affirmative. Sehun is informed his brother is there too; the two immediately break down, holding onto each other while crying.

Chanyeol turns excitedly to where Baekhyun and Jongdae are only to have his smile wiped off when he sees the older boy is staring dejectedly at the most recent page of the book, right where their signatures are. Jongdae is rubbing his back soothingly, but he seems to be at a loss for words. Minseok has a compassionate frown on his face but he moves to them anyways.

“Excuse me,” he says in a light voice. “Did either of you find a familiar name?”

“Kim Jongdeok,” Jongdae whispers softly. Minseok checks his chart and then nods.

“He’s been cleared too.” He looks at Baekhyun and asks him kindly if there is anything he could do for him, but Baekhyun only shakes his head, lips pressed together tightly. Chanyeol wants so bad to reach for him, tug him close and hold him until his pain eases away, but he knows it would be futile. “They might not have arrived yet,” Minseok says, “There are squads still out there, looking for survivors. They’re going to be bringing in people everyday, so don’t lose hope. That goes for all of you,” he says louder, looking at all of them in the eye. “Don’t feel discouraged if you only see one sibling or one parent today; the search isn’t over.”

-

Turns out, Jongin has a broken foot. Chanyeol wonders how he didn’t notice before, but Minseok tells the group that perhaps the adrenaline kept Jongin going for this long; it would certainly explain why he didn’t complain about the pain until after they were sat in three hospital beds and nurses started prodding them.

Chanyeol has a broken nose, no surprises there; Baekhyun twisted his ankle, most likely when he got stuck in the toilet (now that was a story to tell); and Jongdae and Kyungsoo have some bruises. Sehun is probably the most wounded one, with two fractured ribs. He’s bandaged up pretty quickly though, and after his nurse (Jihyo, her nametag reads) gives him some morphine, he falls asleep almost right away, his head resting on Jongin’s shoulder.

Chanyeol sits arm to arm with Baekhyun, backs resting on the wall. Baekhyun is awfully quiet, merely wincing when another nurse presses her fingers in different areas of his foot. Chanyeol links their pinky fingers together and Baekhyun shuffles just a bit closer to him.

-

Later that night, after they’re assigned to a room to rest in and Jongin and Sehun have already claimed their stake on the two beds at the far end (and pushed them together, much to their seniors’ amusement) and everyone’s gone to bed, Baekhyun crawls under the covers with Chanyeol and grabs his hand again, head coming to rest on his chest, a soft sigh escaping his lips right as he falls asleep.

-

They’re allowed to see their relatives the next morning. Baekhyun insists he’s fine and practically pushes them out the door, but Chanyeol isn’t stupid (despite what Kyungsoo says) and sees the unshed tears before he’s whisked away by his friends. Still, it’s hard to be too worried when the prospect of seeing his family is waiting for him a few corridors down.

Sehun, for all that cold exterior that Chanyeol remembers from school, flies across the room and lands on top of an older boy who looks very much like him. Jongin is pulled into a group hug with two girls and that is all Chanyeol has time to see before very familiar arms wrap around him and he’s engulfed in his sister’s embrace, Yura crying and then fussing over him, checking to see he’s fine, his parents not too far behind. They all look good, aside from the bruises Chanyeol expected and nothing more.

“Oh my God,” Yura whispers suddenly, looking around the room. “Where’s Baekhyun?”

“He’s fine,” Chanyeol rushes to reassure his rapidly panicking sister. “It’s just… his family isn’t here, and he didn’t feel like coming out.”

Something about the statement makes Jongdae burst out laughing. Jongdeok pesters him to know what’s so funny until his younger brother stage whispers, “Baekhyun finally kissed Chanyeol.”

It’s not like Chanyeol’s parents didn’t know he liked boys, having come out as bisexual to them a year earlier, but it was still a little scary to see his dad pale. They accepted him, as much as Korean parents could, but it certainly wasn’t something they wanted to hear about. Yura, on the other hand, was the embodiment of happiness as she squealed and squeezed her brother.

“Well finally,” Kyungsoo’s older brother whistles and Mrs. Do laughs good-naturedly.

“Oh, isn’t that nice, dear?” Mrs. Park says, happy and just a bit shaken. His father only nods with a tight smile. Chanyeol doesn’t feel bad though, he knows his dad likes Baekhyun and isn’t opposed to them; as long as his son was happy, is what he said to him once.

-

“Do you know what this meeting is about?” Baekhyun whispers to him two weeks later. They’re making their way to the cafeteria room along with all the survivors from their wing, Baekhyun pressed close to him and holding his brother’s hand; Baekbeom had been brought in five days after they did, a white bandage wrapped around his head.

“They’re going to give us a talk, something about our options,” Chanyeol answers him. All he understood from Yixing earlier that day was that they could choose what to do from now on. The cafeteria is already crowded when they get in, but Chanyeol still manages to find a spot for them, even if Baekhyun has to sit half on his lap (not that either of them minds.)

“Please settle down,” a soldier speaks up from the top of a table, a microphone in his hands. “I’m Lieutenant Kim Junmyeon, the chief of this base. I understand you’re all restless and eager to understand the situation, and I hope to explain it to you to the best of my abilities. You are all familiar with SM Laboratories, correct?” a murmur of agreement goes around the room. Junmyeon gives a short nod. “They were working on a serum to revive dead brain cells that would, in combination with replacing the old organs with new ones, bring the recently deceased to life.

“However, there was a mishap and the vials where they held the serums broke, close enough to the corpses used for research. Sadly, the serum was in an airborne phase and, well… somehow it became an infection, I’m not sure how. The point is, anyone who is bitten by a zombie now will die and minutes later come back to life, except they won’t be themselves.”

“What is the government doing about it?”

“Has it spread?”

“Is there any way to stop it?”

Thousands of questions are thrown around the room, and Lieutenant Junmyeon seems to be having a problem keeping the people in line. Yifan then climbs up next to him and takes the microphone from his hands, the crowd immediately settling down; Yifan is an imposing figure, especially now that he was using his full height to his advantage, eyebrows pulled down in a frown.

“To those of you who don’t know me, I’m General Wu Yifan, with the Chinese military,” he introduces himself. “When the infection spread, the South Korean government asked for our assistance, seeing as we already were here for diplomatic discussions regarding your friend in the North. Captain Zhang Yixing and I,” he nodded to where Yixing was sitting calmly with other soldiers and the Chinese male waved with a small smile, “were first respondents. And considering Junmyeon here asked us, we will stay for longer than expected.”

Yifan seems to hesitate then but pushes on. “The infection has already spread to all of Korea, North and South alike, Japan and some surrounding countries. We expect it to continue growing and, according to Intel, it will most likely reach the world by the end of the month.”

“That means it’s slow,” Junmyeon says. “Two weeks and it has only affected a handful of countries, and the situation is being handled as smoothly as possible.”

“Our scientists are working on a cure of sorts,” Yifan continues. “It will probably only work on those recently turned, but our main concern right now is developing a vaccine.”

“You’re here because most of you have healed and unfortunately you can’t remain our guests for much longer,” Junmyeon smiles amicably. “You have the following options: one, you can choose to train with the army and be sent out in contention and recovery missions. Two, you can work at the safe houses and bases as nurses. Three, you can work as cooks or help in any other way with the survivors. Most of you will be sent away to other bases in Korea and other countries that need you. You have two days to decide.”

-

“Whatever we choose we need to request to stay together,” Jongdae announces loudly back in their room. “That goes to you two too,” he says to Jongin and Sehun, who look up from their conversation with equally surprised faces and Jongdae smiles at them. “What? You grew on me.”

“Do you think they’d let us?” Baekhyun asks, “Stay all six together, I mean.”

Jongdae hums. “They better, and besides, Yifan and Yixing like us. All we need is pout a little and they’ll agree.”

That part is true; Chanyeol has seen Jongdae bat his eyelashes at Yixing just to get some extra pudding at lunch. It works, too. “I’d like to choose to train,” Chanyeol speaks up.

“I’ll go with cooking,” Kyungsoo says.

“Ditto,” Jongin raises his hand. Sehun hits him in the head. “You only know how to cook chicken.”

“I can learn!”

“I’ll go with nursing,” Baekhyun decides. Sehun murmurs his agreement and they all look at Jongdae. “Are you kidding me? Of course I’ll train! Bitch you might as well call me Alice Dae now.”

“Like you’re as cool as Mila Jovovich,” Baekhyun mocks him. Jongdae gives an outraged cry and tackles him to the ground.

-

They’re taken to the base in Osaka as soon as they turn in their applications; it took some convincing, but Yifan caved in eventually and agreed to take them all with him. Chanyeol is sure it had something to do with Sehun and Jongin pouting up to him with puppy eyes. They meet another Chinese soldier named Lu Han, a pilot for the Chinese Air Force in charge of flying them to Japan, and the first thing to come out of his mouth when they board the aircraft is, “Damn Yixing, you look hotter than the last time I saw you.”

Yixing blushes and says something in Chinese, to which Lu Han cackles loudly and soothes him with a hand rubbing up and down his arm. Chanyeol doesn’t have long to wonder what their relationship is because Yifan climbs aboard then, followed by one of Jongin’s sisters and Baekbeom.

“The rest of your families are coming later,” Yifan says, “They’ve been assigned to the same base; we want to keep loved ones together, considering everything that’s happened.”

“You’re a lucky bunch,” Lu Han whistles, “Not many have relatives still alive.”

Chanyeol is well aware of how lucky they are, yes. And looking around he can see his friends are thinking the same.

“Ready for take off,” Lu Han informs them. Chanyeol lets Baekhyun cuddle up to him once their seatbelts are safely buckled, ignoring Kyungsoo and Jongdae’s smirks and smug looks, and they fall asleep like that, knowing that when they wake up they’ll be safe and, more importantly, together.


End file.
